Linda Gorchels blogs

This is a question likely to cause disagreement, if not downright altercations.  Some believe the ONLY reason a business exists is to make money. Others view money as an end-result. The question may boil down to whether profits and purpose are contradictory or compatible.

Make a Profit. Period.

This spring I saw an article in Harvard Business Review titled, Companies Don’t Always Need a Purpose Beyond Profit. The gist of the article was that businesses sometimes publish lofty mission statements that feel “empty,” causing employees to feel cynical rather than inspired. Freek Vermeulen, the author, suggested that making a profit was an admirable goal:

In my view, organizations shouldn’t be shy about stating profit as its explicit and ultimate purpose.

How much time did you spend on Facebook this week? How about YouTube, or Twitter, or any other social media platform?

My guess is it’s more than you care to admit.

In my post on a regenerative attention economy, I mentioned the concern of former Google staffer Tristan Harris. He said technology is downgrading humans by preying on our animal brains. Sounds kind of harsh, doesn’t it?

Before I go any further, let me clarify that I am NOT anti-technology. I was using the internet before the web came along. I enjoyed easier access to new information and connections. And I saw a lot of value in technology, mostly from the internet. (That was when “You Got Mail!” was a big deal.)… Read the rest

Is a regenerative attention economy possible? That’s not a very good “clickbaity” headline, is it?

Should I have used the following title (even though it has nothing to do with the content)?

9 Tips to Increasing Brain Wealth

Or how about this one?

Are all Your Friends Narcissists?

Perhaps this would grab your attention:

What the F*ck were you thinking?

But my goal is not to sell you something, or to spew advertising at you. Rather, it’s to get you to think. And to contemplate. And to (dare I say?) become more humane.

Let’s start with the basics.

What is an attention economy?

This requires a bit of history. The term “attention economy” has been around for decades. It followed the agriculture, industrial and information revolutions.… Read the rest

Do you wonder why you exist? Yearn for a purpose? Struggle with how to make the world a better place?

It starts with little things. But if all of us did the little things, we could have a big impact.

Here are some suggestions.

Become an environmental steward

Pick up trash when you take a walk. It’s something I noticed my dad doing when I was growing up. It simply involves bending down, putting your fingers around a piece of litter, and transporting it to a trash can (or a bag if you are carrying one for that purpose).

Encourage your political representatives to support environmental causes and efforts to combat climate change.

Avoid pesticides that are bad for the water, the soil, the air, or the bees.… Read the rest

In honor of Earth Month, my Contemplate post this final Friday is on the environment. I struggled with how to narrow the topic. Contaminants in drinking water? Pollution? Air quality? Climate change? Whew!

I made my decision after viewing Plastic Planet, Werner Boote’s documentary on the dangers of plastic. And we’re drowning in it. Plastic is used in our clothing, furniture, cars, food packaging, electronics, yard tools—it’s ubiquitous. Think about it.

If you took every plastic product in your home or apartment and stacked them in front of your building, how many piles would you need to make? How big would the piles be?

Drowning in Plastic

Plastic has been hailed as a miracle—and a curse. It’s convenient to use, but hard for the earth to dispose of.… Read the rest

The other day at the gym I overheard a snippet of a conversation. “For Lent I’ve decided to practice random acts of kindness.”

Now, I’ve heard of people giving up chocolate for Lent. I even heard news broadcasts about a man who had given up beer for Lent, and another man who said he gave up everything EXCEPT beer.

But doing more random acts of kindness as a resolution? What a great and relevant idea!

I decided to research the topic and came across the “official site.” It’s owned by The Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Foundation, a small nonprofit that invests resources into making kindness the norm. While there were no suggestions about using this as a Lenten activity, it did provide a host of kindness ideas.… Read the rest